*)33 Turkish soldiers killed in Syrian regime air strike in Idlib

An Assad regime air strike killed 33 Turkish soldiers in Syria’s Idlib province, a Turkish official said.

Troops wounded in the Syrian regime attack are being treated at hospitals in Turkey, Hatay’s Governor Rahmi Dogan says.

In a separate incident the same day, Syrian regime fire killed five Turkish soldiers in Idlib.

*)Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees reaching Europe

Turkey will no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe, a senior Turkish official says.

Some 1 million civilians have been displaced by the regime offensive in Idlib since December.

Turkish police, coastguard and border security officials have been ordered to stand down at refugee land and sea crossings.

*)China reports 44 new virus deaths

China reports 44 more deaths from the novel coronavirus epidemic and 327 fresh cases, the lowest daily figure in more than a month.

The death toll now stands at 2,788 in mainland China, according to the National Health Commission.

The number of fatalities – which is up from the 29 reported on Thursday – were all in Hubei province, except for two deaths in Beijing.

*)Boy band BTS cancels concerts in South Korean capital due to virus

K-pop superstar group BTS has cancelled concerts in Seoul in April over concerns about a soaring viral outbreak in South Korea.

BTS says the Covid-19 “has made it impossible at this time to predict the scale of the outbreak during the dates of the concert in April.”

South Korea’s coronavirus cases crossed 2,000 on Friday, with 256 new infections.

And finally,

*)About 40 percent of US adults are obese – government survey

About 4 in 10 American adults are obese, and nearly 1 in 10 is severely so, government researchers say.

The findings come from a 2017-18 health survey, which found the obesity rate was 42 percent – higher than the 40 percent found in a similar 2016 study.

The survey numbers are small enough that there’s a mathematical chance the rates didn’t truly rise, but it’s clear adult obesity rates are trending up.